


Brave New Worlds

by faithinthepoor



Category: Dollhouse
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-05
Packaged: 2017-11-23 18:06:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/625097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithinthepoor/pseuds/faithinthepoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set some time following the events of Epitah Two</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brave New Worlds

She stands before the door of a ramshackle building that in her mind has about as much in common with the woman inhabiting it as a fish does with a bicycle. Her left hand feels like it will lose its grip on the bottle she’s holding and she tightens her fingers as she forces her right hand to make a fist and knock. 

The door opens and she braces herself for a potentially unfavourable reception. The woman before her scrutinises her as though she is a specimen under a microscope. “Well at least you are not Whiskey.”

“No but I did bring some,” she raises the bottle and watches the glimmer of delight dance through Dewitt’s eyes.

“Be still my heart.”

“So your new Eden isn’t perfect then?”

“It does lack some of life’s necessities.”

“How could you be so sure that I wasn’t Whiskey?”

A hand caresses her cheek, “The lights are on and someone is definitely home.”

“Hey I have had two years to evolve.”

“I’m not so sure that anyone who had evolved would come looking for me.”

She lets out a small laugh, “Probably not.”

“So are you you?”

“Of course I’m me but I guess what you are really asking is who’s in this body.”

“One finds that it does help to know who one is talking to.”

“Who do you want me to be?”

“That’s not really a fair thing to ask.”

“Why not? You made your life about that sort of thing.”

“That life is gone now.”

“I know. I hear you look after orphans nowadays. Although I have to wonder if they are just mini dolls to you.”

“They do need my care but they are a hell of a lot less malleable then dolls and I like to think that they will decide their own destinies.”

“So do you want to know which destiny I chose?”

“I believe I have mentioned that it would be helpful.”

“Don’t worry Adelle you still have at least one doll left.”

Dewitt looks relieved and she hates the surge of joy she feels at that reaction, “Would you like to come in Claire?”

“I would.” She follows DeWitt into a room that could euphemistically be described as modest. “I have to say that I love what you’ve done with the place.”

Adelle manages a self-deprecating smile, “I was going for the rustic, post apocalyptic look.”

She manages a smile of her own, “I think you have succeeded. So would you like to open this?” Adelle disappears at lightening speed and then returns with two glasses, neither of which are crystal, the world really has changed. DeWitt opens the bottle and closes her eyes as she inhales the vapour. There is a look of rapture on the older women’s face as she splashes generous servings of the liquid into the glasses. “I take it you have missed scotch.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

“Just not as much as scotch.”

“Well you are measuring yourself against a very high bar. This isn’t just scotch, it’s very good scotch.” 

“I know. We still have some rather strange supplies at the Dollhouse.” Adelle has settled herself on the sofa and beckons for Claire join her. She hesitates, trying to weigh up the right distance to sit from someone you haven’t seen for years and have legitimate reasons to loathe. Her debate is in vain as the moment she sits down Adelle moves closer to her. “I don’t want to sound clichéd but I think we should talk.”

“We should,” Adelle agrees, “but right now we need to drink.”

She feels the liquid burn her throat but it fails to deliver a fraction of the warmth she feels when she looks at Adelle and she hates herself a little for that. The years and the harder lifestyle have taken their toll; there are lines around Adelle’s eyes and lips. Claire is not trite enough to say that the lines give character but she does note that somehow they fail to diminish Adelle’s beauty. Maybe it’s not the wrinkles that agree with her, maybe it’s the freedom and the fact that outside of Rossum’s clutches it’s probably easier for Adelle to sleep at night. 

“I have to say I'm surprised.”

She’s surprised too; she didn’t think that DeWitt would be the one to break the silence, “How so?”

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

“You thought Echo would have put the original personality back?”

“I really did but for what it’s worth I hoped she wouldn’t.”

“She said that Whiskey made the decision for me. That when Whiskey wouldn’t leave with the others that deep down she knew who she wanted to be.”

“I think Echo reads too much into things.”

“Probably but I’m glad that she does.”

“In case you were wondering I didn’t ask her to do it.”

“I know.”

“She told you that?”

“No. She would have given me back my old personality just to spite you.”

“That’s true but that’s not why I didn’t ask. I didn’t think it was my place.”

“So are you happy here with your mini dolls?”

If Adelle notices the sudden change of subject she doesn’t mention it, “Reasonably. I don’t think I’m a particularly happy person.”

“There was I time when I would have believed that but you’re not really the hard bitch that you pretend to be.”

“As you’ve pointed out I run an orphanage now. I am friggin’ Mother Theresa.”

“Is that what you want? To be some sort of saint?”

“There’s not enough penance or miracles in the world that could make me a saint.”

“What happened isn’t your fault.”

“You used to believe that most of the evils in the world were my fault.”

“Clearly I was an idiot. I’m sorry about Topher. That must have been hard for you.”

There is moisture in Adelle’s eyes but Claire knows that the other woman will never let those tears fall, “I wish I could have protected him. He saved us all in the end.”

“I’m as much to blame for what happened to him as anyone. I shot someone he cared about in front of him.”

“You remember that?”

“No, they were kind enough to remove that from my imprint, but amongst Tohper’s word salad that was a prevalent and horribly lucid theme.”

“You didn’t do that. It wasn’t you that shot her.”

“No I just fell for and slept with the man who turned me into a killer.”

“None of us saw what Mr Boyd was.”

“You told me he was no good for me.”

“I was drunk and more than a little jealous. I wasn’t sure if you knew about that. I thought he might have changed you by then.”

“And I thought you might have been too drunk to remember.”

“I am cursed with excellent recall,” Adelle doesn’t seem to be able to look her in the eye.

“Do you think he knew that you were calling me while I was AWOL?”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“I just thought that maybe he chose me because of how you felt.”

“So I should add that to my list of sins?”

“That’s not what I meant. I hated it when you called me to tell me that Miss Lonelyhearts was back in action and that she had been rejected.”

Dewitt raises her eyebrows, “You hated that I got rejected? How sweet.”

“I hated that you felt you had to go there.”

“I was about to go to war. You get to shag before you do that and given you were shagging someone else I did the best I could.”

“And all that took was finding another doll to fulfil your sexual needs.”

“Well it didn’t work. Also you shouldn’t talk about yourself like that.” 

“Why not? It’s the truth. I was a doll. I still am.”

“Not to me you’re not”

“Do you still want to shag me?”

“That’s rather forward Dr Saunders.”

“I seem to have hit a nerve. Maybe you only wanted me because you were trying to steal me from Boyd.”

“Maybe you only answered my calls to make Boyd jealous.”

“So you would be ok with winning me by default?”

“A win is a win even if by definition you are choosing me by default.”

“Well you are the prettier of two megalomaniacs who literally toyed with my mind to get me to do their bidding if that helps you feel better.”

“It seems that you certainly have a type.”

“I do and you, Miss DeWitt, are most certainly it,” she states as she places her hand on Adelle’s thigh. “However it does bother me that my attraction to you may be a by-product of some adolescent girl on girl action fixation on Topher’s part.”

“We are all by-products of something,” Adelle takes Claire’s hand and places it higher up her thigh.

DeWitt twists her fingers into Claire’s hair and pulls her in for a kiss but Claire places a hand on her chest pushing her back, “There’s one more thing I need to know.”

A sigh of frustration escapes from Adelle, “What now?”

“I know that Clyde Randolph had certain, shall we say, appetites. Did I, I mean did he, do anything to you?”

“He hit on me a little that’s all.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No need. Your body looked sexy as hell in the suit, we should both be grateful that I didn’t jump him.”

She feels a pain in her chest, “So it is just about this shell.”

“No, not at all, but it’s hard to have someone who looks exactly like the woman that you want to roger senseless hitting on you and not feel something. You’re a giant pain in the arse and you have made my life difficult at times but Claire it was you that I wanted to roger. Nobody else.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“I tried, quite hard. That’s not something I’m used to, I was always a woman people chased, but it didn’t work. It seems you were too busy rogering someone else.”

“Not then. Why didn’t you try later? We had years in the House after that.”

“I didn’t seem right, felt a bit cheep I guess, to bed you while the world was ending.”

“The world’s not ending anymore.”

“Not today.”

“So what now?”

“We stop all this talking and I take you to my room.”

“Who needs to wait for that?” she emphasises her point by climbing onto Adelle’s lap. Apparently DeWitt needs no further invitation as she before she knows what’s happened Claire has been divested of her shirt. She places herself in catch up mode, making short work of Adelle’s buttons. She then blazes a trail with her fingers and follows this by claiming the uncovered skin with her lips. 

Claire finds her head pulled back up and Adelle’s lips are now the ones staking their claim - ravishing Claire’s neck in a way that is definitely going to leave a mark. Claire’s head falls back to allow better access to her neck but her hands busy themselves pushing down Dewitt’s sweat pants.

“I have never seen you so underdressed,” Claire is startled by the husky quality of her own voice.

“Not a whole lot of clients to impress anymore.”

“Well I am impressed and I am glad you’ve kept your hair long.”

“Are you going to critique me the whole way through this?”

“I guess that depends on your performance,” Claire states as her hands skim below the sweatpants. “You are so wet.”

“Of course. I’ve been sexually frustrated for over a decade.”

“You’re making me feel special here.”

Adelle’s fingers slide beneath Claire’s pants and burry themselves in the warmth, “I think it’s safe to say you are feeling fairly special.”

“Bitch.”

“Ah but I am so your bitch.”

“You had better be,” she pushes Adelle back onto the couch and places herself on top of her. They don’t even manage to remove all of their clothes; they simply become a grinding mass of fingers, lips and groins. Before she knows it she is clinging to shoulders slick with perspiration and panting as she thrusts her hips against Dewitt’s fingers until she suddenly collapses against DeWitt, shuddering as she comes. 

The world is apparently better than she ever imagined, there are certainly far worse places to be then snuggling against Adelle Dewitt whilst basking in your afterglow. “That was gentler than I was expecting.”

“I am saving the whips and chains for later.”

“Fine but I’m the one who gets to tie you up.”

“I don’t think that would go well. I have a few too many control issues.”

“I am the one who was essentially a sex slave to countless people. I think it’s my turn to be in charge.”

“That sex slave wasn’t you.”

“So says my controlling pimp.”

“Hey I plan to look after my merchandise very, very well,” Adelle brushes back Claire’s hair and places a tender kiss on her forehead. 

“Good to know,” she burrows deeper into Dewitt’s embrace. Adelle smells of sweat and sex and there isn’t really enough space for both of them to lie on the couch but she knows they will manage to sleep there tonight. The Earth may be a new place but their issues are old and will require a lot of work. That doesn’t seem to matter right now though because for the first time in her life she is certain that she is home.


End file.
